Author Topic: Dear HiTech...  (Read 2729 times)

Offline daddog

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #30 on: May 23, 2011, 07:26:41 PM »
Quote
My squad has only 2 members so I believe we can't participate in FSO? Regardless, for the guys in the MA, Friday nights are extremely dull as the numbers are too low for 2 arenas while FSO is on. Seems like the off hours arena would be a good solution.
Some have considered moving up the minimum requirement for FSO participation. I have always argued against this. Currently in the 4-6 slot (smallest squad that can register) you can show up with as little as 2 pilots or as many as 8 and still be golden. I would not recommend signing up with only 2 active members, but if you were adamant you could actually do so. Small squads are quite welcome in FSO.
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Offline Baine

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #31 on: May 23, 2011, 09:17:48 PM »
Compared to the peak of AH shortly after the big arena split, we are seeing now about 50% less kills and played hours in the LWMa.


So it would seem the arena split, that was the subject of so much hot debate about how it was going to save the game, is actually killing it? Heresy! HTC is omnipotent when it comes to computer games and we mere mortals should keep our traps shut because they know what is best for the game.
Right :headscratch:

Offline DREDIOCK

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #32 on: May 23, 2011, 09:21:57 PM »
Might be important to note that just because your signed up with a squad in FSO. Doesnt mean your in or have to hang with that squad in the MA's
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Offline Lusche

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #33 on: May 23, 2011, 09:41:52 PM »
So it would seem the arena split, that was the subject of so much hot debate about how it was going to save the game, is actually killing it? Heresy! HTC is omnipotent when it comes to computer games and we mere mortals should keep our traps shut because they know what is best for the game.
Right :headscratch:

No! This is not in any way what I have said. I even mentioned that the game peaked after the split. The downward trend started much later, and nowhere  did I indicate that the split was the reason for that :)
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Offline icepac

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #34 on: May 23, 2011, 11:02:54 PM »
The strats look cool.

I love driving to them and cruising through the residential areas and exploring the factories before I blow them up with 90+ rounds of HE ammo.

Offline AWwrgwy

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #35 on: May 24, 2011, 12:23:06 AM »
Hi, I own a company that is losing money but I'm going to keep doing what I am doing just to drive the customers away....

You really believe that?

I'd say the person who has access to the books would be omnipotent in this situation.


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Offline vafiii

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #36 on: May 24, 2011, 12:02:56 PM »
Thanks Nefarious. Perhaps some day my squad mate and I will take you up on your offer.

Offline Nefarious

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #37 on: May 24, 2011, 12:26:30 PM »
Thanks Nefarious. Perhaps some day my squad mate and I will take you up on your offer.

Let me know before the 28th and I can get you in for the June FSO.

New Terrain, Luftwaffe and Finnish vs Soviets... Always fun times  :rock

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There must also be a flyable computer available for Nefarious to do FSO. So he doesn't keep talking about it for eight and a half hours on Friday night!

Offline Baine

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #38 on: May 24, 2011, 07:00:01 PM »
No! This is not in any way what I have said. I even mentioned that the game peaked after the split. The downward trend started much later, and nowhere  did I indicate that the split was the reason for that :)
No Lusche, you didn't, and I didn't mean to imply that was your thinking. Sorry.
But, it does seem to indicate (at least to me) that the arena split - and the increased difficulty in finding a fight that it brought about - could be considered a cause for the decline if, as you say, numbers did start to drop shortly after the split. Sure they would climb for a little bit, as old customers gave the new system a chance and new customers continued to come on.
I might be wrong about why the numbers declined, and just interpreting things looking at it through my own lens. But your numbers do prove that splitting the arenas have not contributed to the game's growth.
I hate flying or driving a long way only to get killed and then have to do it again. And to me, that's what the split resulted in. I do enough commuting in real life. I want my fun to come with less work and tedium. My playing hours have sunk to just a couple per month and that's only because of squad night. I personally find AH incredibly dull these days. Some of that is undoubtedly due to the novelty wearing off, but Ithink a lot of it is due to the tedium factor. I'm obviously still interested in the game, I still visit the message boards. I just get so frustrated that HTC seems hellbent on taking something that is supposed to be fun and turning it into too much work to make it worthwhile. I am willing to put the time in to learn ACM - take a look at my hours of play a couple of years ago and you'll see. But I want some kind of mindless payoff for that time put in - and I'm interpreting those numbers to show I'm not alone.

Offline gyrene81

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #39 on: May 24, 2011, 07:20:10 PM »
No Lusche, you didn't, and I didn't mean to imply that was your thinking. Sorry.
But, it does seem to indicate (at least to me) that the arena split - and the increased difficulty in finding a fight that it brought about - could be considered a cause for the decline if, as you say, numbers did start to drop shortly after the split. Sure they would climb for a little bit, as old customers gave the new system a chance and new customers continued to come on.
I might be wrong about why the numbers declined, and just interpreting things looking at it through my own lens. But your numbers do prove that splitting the arenas have not contributed to the game's growth.
I hate flying or driving a long way only to get killed and then have to do it again. And to me, that's what the split resulted in. I do enough commuting in real life. I want my fun to come with less work and tedium. My playing hours have sunk to just a couple per month and that's only because of squad night. I personally find AH incredibly dull these days. Some of that is undoubtedly due to the novelty wearing off, but Ithink a lot of it is due to the tedium factor. I'm obviously still interested in the game, I still visit the message boards. I just get so frustrated that HTC seems hellbent on taking something that is supposed to be fun and turning it into too much work to make it worthwhile. I am willing to put the time in to learn ACM - take a look at my hours of play a couple of years ago and you'll see. But I want some kind of mindless payoff for that time put in - and I'm interpreting those numbers to show I'm not alone.
you're missing some points...natural attrition, people get bored, especially the younger people...in a niche market, attrition can out pace new customers, especially in a depressed economy and right now the economy is bad everywhere...the last graphics update caused a bit of a stir...and then some people just look for an excuse to be angry because they can't deal with change, any excuse can be used to justify the proverbial "last straw", graphics update, eny, arena caps, gv changes, etc...

trying to second guess what is really happening when you do not have all the facts...well, it's not priceless.
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Offline Lusche

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #40 on: May 24, 2011, 07:41:53 PM »
No Lusche, you didn't, and I didn't mean to imply that was your thinking. Sorry.

It's ok, I'm just a bit touchy on these subjects as occasionally some kind of rumors / myths start to spread from my "work" , like "Lusche has proven that the number of subscriptions ...." where in reality I just showed data on kills, played hours or number of pilot ID's.  ;)


But, it does seem to indicate (at least to me) that the arena split - and the increased difficulty in finding a fight that it brought about - could be considered a cause for the decline if, as you say, numbers did start to drop shortly after the split. Sure they would climb for a little bit, as old customers gave the new system a chance and new customers continued to come on.

They didn't even drop "shortly" after the split. According to HTC the split was very successful in terms of business (=subscriptions), and according to my own data it was not hurting player numbers at all. The downward trend started at least 2 years later. If the split had anything to do with that in a direct way, it should had happened way earlier. I had always disliked the split, but I have never found any data or fact to prove that the split itself has been bad for the game (at that time, that is ;))

And to expand on the difficulty to find a fight: That had not been any problem back then, despite the split, because we had much higher player numbers, which had really been high enough to support gameplay in two arenas (I'm talking about LW exclusively, other arenas are a different topic). In fact, the high player numbers had been the reason to split the arenas in the first place.



However (and here comes my personal opinion again) the parameters have changed. While two LW arenas worked fine (keeping a few personal grudges of mine aside) with the numbers back then,  things start to get non satisfying when the numbers declined. One thing is the absolute number of players in a given arena: While there may be a maximum limit for "healthy" gameplay, there is also a negative impact when the numbers / the player density is getting too low.

The other thing is the dynamic process of filling up an arena after caps kicked in (old system until tour 130), respectively offpeak to peak arena format changeover. With the old system, it once took about 1 hour for both arenas getting steam again. Annoying, but acceptable in my book. But When numbers started to get lower, this process was taking longer and longer, as the rigid cap system did not adapt. At the end, it could have taken up to four hours instead of one.
The new offpeak / peak hours system was a (necessary) step to adjust for that and a big improvement over the old system.

But now we seem to witness the same effect we Euros had to endure under the old system again, just at peak time: With total numbers having sunk again, it's getting longer and longer for the second LW arena to fill up. And thats' why I am now for getting back to a single peak arena for the time being. The old split system was introduced to enable growth and healthy play. But we have now roughly 50% of the players online we used to be. It's not longer about splitting 500 players into a 300 and a 200 players arena... we see 250 players splitting into one 190 and one 60 player arena.
And at least in my book, 60 players on a large map offers much less opportunities and variable gameplay than putting all those 250 in a single large map arena. Not only because of the lesser player density (= hunting single cons, battles dying quickly when facing resitance because it'S easier to strike elsewhere), but also because it's much more difficult to organize the big stuff like "epic" strat bomber missions.

 :old:

« Last Edit: May 24, 2011, 07:45:17 PM by Lusche »
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Offline Lusche

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #41 on: May 24, 2011, 08:39:25 PM »
just speaking to the late war arenas, on an "average" night during u.s. prime time the numbers occasionally peak around 500 players between the 2 late war arenas, sometimes more, sometimes less. on titanic tuesdays typically the numbers go between 325 and 375. once in a while it will get to 400 plus

I remember when it was 600+


At this very moment (3:30 am my local time), we have 401 players in Titanic Tuesday. Last September (21st to be exact), we had 525 players at the same time. And this September had been the month with lowest activity since I had joined AH (Tour 70).
This is not to create panic, or to blame the split (or any other single item) for anything, but just to illustrate that the parameters have indeed changed. Please see the following chart in the same light:


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Offline Baine

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #42 on: May 24, 2011, 09:54:43 PM »
you're missing some points...natural attrition, people get bored, especially the younger people...in a niche market, attrition can out pace new customers, especially in a depressed economy and right now the economy is bad everywhere...the last graphics update caused a bit of a stir...and then some people just look for an excuse to be angry because they can't deal with change, any excuse can be used to justify the proverbial "last straw", graphics update, eny, arena caps, gv changes, etc...

trying to second guess what is really happening when you do not have all the facts...well, it's not priceless.

I hadn't missed the people get bored part, since the gist of what I was saying is that flying around long distances looking for a fight in half filled arenas is, uh, boring - even for a fogey like me :old:.

Offline Warspawn

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #43 on: May 25, 2011, 07:37:21 AM »
We need to go back to one big arena.  Sorry, but that's what most find fun...
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Offline Shuffler

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Re: Dear HiTech...
« Reply #44 on: May 25, 2011, 01:39:03 PM »
We need to go back to one big arena.  Sorry, but that's what most find fun...

Evidently not for everyone. Many think more choices are better.
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